The present invention relates to a method of keeping cattle in a stall barn and also to a means which is useful in carrying out the method.
To achieve highly rational operation in milk production, all parts of the system upon which the operation is based must function in a satisfactory manner. One weak link in this system has been the design of stall fittings for feeding and resting places in which the animals are free from restraint at the neck and can move freely backwards when a rear closing means is removed.
No. DE-A1-32 18 380 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,166,044 describe rear closing means in the form of rotatably mounted gates. Similar and other closing arrangements are described in the examination work "Feeding and resting places" by Gunnar Israelsson and Perarne Mattson, the Swedish Agricultural University (Uppsala 1979). These known arrangements use tube or bar constructions. Such rigid and stiff bar constructions cause considerable strain onto the attachment points of the gates when the animals come into contact with the stall gates. This may damage the stall gates, their attachment points and parts of the journalling and manoeuvre means, thus impairing the opening function so that the animal is confined in its stall when adjacent animals are let out. Due to the cow's ingrained group-dependence she may then behave in a manner causing further damage to the stiff stall gate. Another problem is that the cows excrete on the stiff stall gates thus soiling them.
The primary object of the present invention is therefore to provide an improved method and means for keeping cattle in a stall barn.
Another object of the invention is to achieve improved stall fittings having closing means which eliminate the problems mentioned above thus paving the way for highly rational milk production in keeping cattle in a stall barn having feeding and resting places and a milking parlor located at a distance therefrom.